Lopez

Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him of grand theft in the felonious taking of an automobile. (Pen. Code, § 487, subd. 3.) The jury found him not guilty of the violation of section 10851 of the Vehicle Code as charged in the second count of the information.

The evidence reveals that Police Officer Imbler and a fellow officer, who was driving their patrol car, were proceeding along San Fernando Road at 3:45 a.m. Sunday morning, September 17, 1961, when they observed an automobile moving quite slowly along an intersecting street in a relatively deserted business area. Then they noticed the rear lights of this ear being turned on as it moved. Since there had been numerous recent burglaries in that vicinity, and there being no business establishments open at that hour, the officers turned up the intersecting street behind the vehicle and turned on their red emergency lights to signal the driver of the other car to stop.

Rather than stopping, however, the vehicle sped off, and a 2-mile chase through winding streets of the area ensued. The fleeing vehicle was a 1949 model and the officers had no difficulty in keeping up with it. They never were more than 50 yards behind it…